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Naipaul
Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul (; 17 August 1932 – 11 August 2018) was a Trinidadian-born British writer of works of fiction and nonfiction in English. He is known for his comic early novels set in Trinidad, his bleaker novels of alienation in the wider world, and his vigilant chronicles of life and travels. He wrote in prose that was widely admired, but his views sometimes aroused controversy. He published more than thirty books over fifty years. Naipaul's breakthrough novel '' A House for Mr Biswas'' was published in 1961. Naipaul won the Booker Prize in 1971 for his novel '' In a Free State''. He won the Jerusalem Prize in 1983, and in 1989, he was awarded the Trinity Cross, Trinidad and Tobago's highest national honour. He received a knighthood in Britain in 1990, and the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2001. Life and career Background and early life V. S. Naipaul was born to Droapatie (''née'' Capildeo) and Seepersad Naipaul on 17 August 1932 in the sugar plantati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Bend In The River
''A Bend in the River'' is a 1979 novel by Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul. The novel, telling the story of Salim, a merchant in post-colonial mid-20th century Africa, is one of Naipaul's best known works and was widely praised. It was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1979. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked ''A Bend in the River'' #83 on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. ''A Bend in the River'' has also been criticized for a perceived defence of European colonialism in Africa. Plot Set in an unnamed African country after independence, the book is narrated by Salim, an ethnically Indian Muslim and a shopkeeper in a small but growing city in the country's remote interior. Salim observes the rapid changes in Africa with an outsider's distance. Salim grows up in the community of Indian traders on the east coast of Africa. Feeling insecure about his future in East Africa, he buys a business from Nazruddin in a town at "a bend in the river" in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seepersad Naipaul
Seepersad Naipaul (; 1906–1953) was an Indo-Trinidadian writer. He was the father of V. S. Naipaul, Shiva Naipaul, Kamla Tewari (''née'' Naipaul), and Sati Bissoondath (''née'' Naipaul), and married into the influential Hindu Indo-Trinidadian Capildeo family. Career Seepersad Naipaul worked as the first Indo-Trinidadian journalist for the ''Trinidad Guardian''. His only book, ''The Adventures of Gurudeva'', is a collection of linked comic short stories that was first published in Trinidad and Tobago in 1943 (under the title ''Gurudeva and Other Indian Tales''). The elder Naipaul wanted his son "Vido" (as he called him) to try to get his story collection published in London, in the hope that any money it earned would help the family escape from the poverty in which they lived in Trinidad and Tobago. The book was not published in London until after Seepersad's death. ''Between Father and Son: Family Letters'' (edited by Gillon Aitken), correspondence with V. S. Naipaul, and other ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A House For Mr Biswas
''A House for Mr Biswas'' is a 1961 novel by V. S. Naipaul, significant as Naipaul's first work to achieve acclaim worldwide. It is the story of Mohun Biswas, a Hindu Indo-Trinidadian who continually strives for success and mostly fails, who marries into the influential Tulsi family only to find himself dominated by it, and who finally sets the goal of owning his own house. It relies on some biographical elements from the experience of the author's father, and views a colonial world sharply with postcolonial perspectives. In 1998, the Modern Library ranked ''A House for Mr Biswas'' number 72 on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. ''Time'' magazine included the novel in its list of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005. In 2022, it was included on the "Big Jubilee Read" list of 70 books by Commonwealth authors, selected to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II. Synopsis Plot Mohun Biswas (based on V. S. Naipaul's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shiva Naipaul
Shiva Naipaul (; 25 February 1945 – 13 August 1985), born Shivadhar Srinivasa Naipaul in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, was an Indo-Trinidadian and British novelist and journalist. Life and work Shiva Naipaul was the younger brother of novelist V. S. Naipaul. He went first to Queen's Royal College and St Mary's College in Trinidad, then emigrated to Britain, having won a scholarship to study Chinese at University College, Oxford. At Oxford, he met and later married Jenny Stuart, with whom he had a son, Tarun.Geoffrey Wheatcroft"Sardonic Genius - Geoffrey Wheatcroft recalls his friendship with the writer Shiva Naipaul, who died 20 years ago" ''The Spectator'', 13 August 2005. With Jenny's support, Shiva Naipaul wrote his first novel, ''Fireflies'' (1970), which won the Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize from the Royal Society of Literature for best regional novel. It was followed by '' The Chip-Chip Gatherers'' (1973). He then decided to concentrate on journalism, and wro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Capildeo Family
The Capildeo family () is an Indo-Trinidadian and Tobagonian family of Hindu pundits, politicians, and writers. The most notable members are 2001 Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul and mathematician and politician Rudranath Capildeo. The ancestral home of the Capildeo family is known as Anand Bhavan ("The Lion House") and is in Chaguanas, Caroni County, Trinidad and Tobago. No-one today knows how the name Kapil transformed into Capildeo. It is possible that Kapil added dev, meaning God, from his village's name of Mahadeva Dubey to his name. Transliteration from Hindi to English was not well developed in the 19th century and words were spelt differently then from the way they are now. Thus, Kapil was changed to Capil and dev to deo, giving Kapil's descendants the surname of Capildeo. Family tree * Pt. Raghunath Dubey ** Pt. Capil Deo Dubey a.k.a. Pundit Capildeo (1873 – 1926)= Soogee Capildeo (née Gobin) (1880 – 1952) (daughter of Bharat Gobinda and Minnie Gobin) ***Droap ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2001 Nobel Prize In Literature
The 2001 Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to the Trinidadian-born British writer Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul (1932–2018), commonly known as V. S. Naipaul, "for having united perceptive narrative and incorruptible scrutiny in works that compel us to see the presence of suppressed histories." The Committee added: "Naipaul is a modern '' philosopher'' carrying on the tradition that started originally with '' Lettres persanes'' and ''Candide''. In a vigilant style, which has been deservedly admired, he transforms rage into precision and allows events to speak with their own inherent irony." The Committee also noted Naipaul's affinity with the novelist Joseph Conrad: Laureate In the heart of many V.S. Naipaul's works, colonialism and post-colonial society are the main settings, and the key themes are alienation and identity in a heterogeneous society. When '' A House for Mr Biswas'' was released in 1961, it was an enormous hit and Naipaul's big break on the world stage. His o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nadira Naipaul
Nadira, Lady Naipaul (born Nadira Khannum Alvi; 1953), is a Pakistani journalist and the widow of novelist Sir V. S. Naipaul. Biography She was born in Mombasa, Kenya. At the age of 16 she married an engineer, Agha Hashim, who was 26 years her senior. They had two daughters, Gul Zehra (aka Naeema Hashim) and Sumar Zahra, who lived with various relatives after the marriage ended. Nadira's second marriage was to Iqbal Shah, by whom she had a daughter Maleeha, whom V. S. Naipaul later adopted, and a son, Nadir Shah. She worked as a journalist for ''The Nation'', a Pakistani newspaper, for ten years before meeting V.S. Naipaul. He became her third husband when they married in 1996, two months after the death of Naipaul's first wife, Patricia (formerly Patricia Hale).{{cite news, url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/84193810.html?dids=84193810:84193810&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Oct+12%2C+2001&author=MARJORIE+MILLER&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=The+World%3B+V.S.+Na ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
In A Free State
''In a Free State'' is a novel by V. S. Naipaul published in 1971 by Andre Deutsch. It won that year's Booker Prize. The plot consists of a framing narrative and three short stories – " One out of Many", "Tell Me Who to Kill", and the title story, "In a Free State". The work is symphonic, with different movements converging towards a common theme; although the theme is not spelled out, it evidently concerns the price of freedom, with analogies implicitly drawn between the three scenarios. Plot summary The novel begins with a narrator on a ferry to Egypt, and concludes many years later when he returns to Egypt as a tourist. First tale The first tale concerns an Indian servant from Bombay who, having no real alternative at home, accompanies his master on a diplomatic mission to Washington, D.C. The two Indians initially must cope with the poor exchange rate of Indian currency in the United States. The servant lives in what is virtually a cupboard, and inadvertently blows ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Enigma Of Arrival
''The Enigma of Arrival: A Novel in Five Sections'' is a 1987 novel by Nobel laureate V. S. Naipaul. Mostly an autobiography, the book is composed of five sections that reflect the growing familiarity and changing perceptions of Naipaul upon his arrival in various countries after leaving his native Trinidad and Tobago. Most of the action of the novel takes place in Wiltshire, England, where Naipaul has rented a cottage in the countryside. On first arriving, he sees the area surrounding his cottage as a frozen piece of history, unchanged for hundreds of years. However, as his stay at the cottage where he is working on another book becomes extended, he begins to see the area for what it is: a constantly changing place with ordinary people simply living lives away from the rest of the world. This causes Naipaul to reflect upon the nature of our perceptions of our surroundings and how much these perceptions are affected by our own pre-conceptions of a place. He re-examines his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chaguanas
The Borough of Chaguanas is the largest municipality (83,489 at the 2011 census) and fastest-growing – Afra Raymond, 29 July 2004. – '' Trinidad Guardian'', 1 October 1998 town in Trinidad and Tobago. Located in west-central Trinidad, south of , north of [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Booker Prize
The Booker Prize, formerly known as the Booker Prize for Fiction (1969–2001) and the Man Booker Prize (2002–2019), is a literary prize awarded each year for the best novel written in English and published in the United Kingdom or Ireland. The winner of the Booker Prize receives international publicity which usually leads to a sales boost. When the prize was created, only novels written by Commonwealth, Irish, and South African (and later Zimbabwean) citizens were eligible to receive the prize; in 2014 it was widened to any English-language novel—a change that proved controversial. A five-person panel constituted by authors, librarians, literary agents, publishers, and booksellers is appointed by the Booker Prize Foundation each year to choose the winning book. A high-profile literary award in British culture, the Booker Prize is greeted with anticipation and fanfare. Literary critics have noted that it is a mark of distinction for authors to be selected for inclusion in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerusalem Prize
The Jerusalem Prize for the Freedom of the Individual in Society is a biennial literary award given to writers whose works have dealt with themes of human freedom in society. It is awarded at the Jerusalem International Book Forum (previously known as the Jerusalem International Book Fair), and the recipient usually delivers an address when accepting the award. The award is valued at $10,000. The prize's inaugural year was 1963, awarded to Bertrand Russell who had won the Nobel Prize in 1950. Octavio Paz, V. S. Naipaul, J. M. Coetzee and Mario Vargas Llosa Jorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquess of Vargas Llosa (born 28 March 1936), more commonly known as Mario Vargas Llosa (, ), is a Peruvian novelist, journalist, essayist and former politician, who also holds Spanish citizenship. Vargas Ll ... all won the Jerusalem Prize prior to winning the Nobel. In the intervening even-numbered years there is also a National Jerusalem Prize to promote local Israeli authors. For e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
